Enron Scandal

About Enron Scandal

Enron, once the seventh largest company in America, filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001. The company had used accounting loopholes and special purpose entities to hide debt and inflate profits. Enron stock fell from 90 to under 1. Employees lost 2 billion in retirement savings. CEO Jeffrey Skilling and CFO Andrew Fastow went to prison. Chairman Ken Lay died before sentencing. The scandal destroyed accounting firm Arthur Andersen. The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 imposed strict corporate governance requirements. Enron became the symbol of corporate fraud and the dot com era excess.